My chest tingled, and I was momentarily distracted by the unfamiliar feeling. “You do?”
He wheeled himself over to a gym bag near the wall and plucked a sheet of green paper from inside. It was a bit crumpled, and he attempted to flatten it with his hands before holding it out to me, which only resulted in sweat stains across the black print.
“Fifteenth Annual Evergreen Lodge Holiday Karaoke Party,” I read. The words Sing in Public swam across my mind’s eye. Why had I agreed to do any of this, again?
“It’s tonight in the Pinecone Lounge. What’re the chances?” Christopher said. “You have about ten hours to figure out what you’re going to sing.” He took out a white towel and wiped the sweat from his brow. “And I figured you could wear heels while you do it. Kill two birds with one stone.”
Wow. He’d really put a lot of thought into this. I was flattered. But putting aside the sheer terror I felt at the very idea of singing in public, let alone the cluelessness over what song would embarrass me the least, there was still just one problem.
“Ummm…I don’t actually own a pair of heels.”
“You don’t?” He glanced down at my feet, as if a pair of heels would suddenly appear on them. Unfortunately, I was wearing my favorite pair of high-top Converse. Just about as far away from Louboutins as you could get.
“If I did, don’t you think I would have worn them by now, thereby precluding me from putting Wear high heels on my list?” I snapped the list out of my backpack and held it up.
Christopher laughed. “All right, don’t take my head off, Type A. It was an innocent question.”
“I’m five foot ten,” I tell him. “High heels always seemed…I don’t know…unnecessary. And the one time my mom made me try them on for my cousin’s wedding, I felt like a freak show. I had to beg her to let me wear flats until she finally relented.”
“Wait. You’re five ten?” he asked, blanching slightly as he gazed up at me.
“Yeah, why?” I looked him up and down, realizing I’d never actually seen him standing up straight. Since we’d met, he’d either been sitting on a couch, sitting in a wheelchair, or hunched over crutches. “How tall are you?”
“Oh, um…I don’t really pay attention to that stuff.”
“Yeah, right. A basketball player who doesn’t know how tall he is? Why do I not believe that?” I joked.
“Whatever. Let’s just figure out this heel problem,” he said, shoving his towel back in his bag and pulling out a T-shirt. I let it die, because clearly it was a sore subject, but now I couldn’t help trying to size him up with my eyes. When he glanced up at me again, it was with a shrewd gaze, as if he knew what I was doing, so I quickly looked away.
“Maybe you can borrow a pair from your sister?” he suggested.
I shook my head. “Lauren’s feet are two sizes smaller than mine,” I told him, trying not to be self-conscious about it. “I’m going to need to go shopping.”
“I guess we could go into town. We have plenty of time,” Christopher said. “Do you drive?”
“We can’t get our license in Pennsylvania until we’re seventeen,” I said. “I just got my permit in October.”
“Where’re you from in Pennsylvania?” he asked, sounding intrigued.
“Philly. Why? Where do you live?”
“Princeton,” he replied. “So, not that far from you.” We smiled at each other, and my skin warmed. Was he implying that he wouldn’t mind seeing me once this ridiculous trip was over and we were both back home? Suddenly I was imagining introducing him to my friends. Taking him to the prom. Making everyone I’d ever met swoon with jealousy.
Okay, Tess. Chill.
“What about Lauren?” he asked.
“Yep. She can drive.” I pulled out my phone and started a text, glad to have an excuse to stop fantasizing. “And luckily, she’ll take pretty much any excuse to go shopping.”
* * *
• • •
Christopher went back to his room to wrap his cast in plastic and take a shower, while I went in search of my dear sister. She was no longer in our room, having left her bedsheets in a tangle and four separate, very wet towels on the floor of the bathroom. Who the heck needed four towels? And was she really unaware that there were two empty towel bars right there for her use? I carefully hung up the damp towels and let the door lock behind me. After checking the restaurant and the gift shop, I was hit with the strong scent of fresh coffee and rolled my eyes. Right. The Best Bean Café. I’d almost spaced on Lauren’s caffeine addiction.
Sure enough, I found my sister sitting at the window counter in the sun, her sunglasses on, her hair perfectly blow-dried, looking utterly glam as she sipped a latte and flipped through some kind of feed on her phone. A pair of college-aged guys at the counter were blatantly checking her out and kept nudging each other and laughing. I shot them a withering look, which neither seemed to notice as I stepped over to the register.
“Good morning!” The guy behind the counter was about my age with a healthy tan and long brown hair he wore back in a low ponytail. He was wearing one of the green Evergreen Lodge polo shirts with a Best Bean Café apron over it. His smile was like something out of a toothpaste commercial. “What can I get for ya?”
“Can I have a latte, please?” I asked, keeping one eye on my sister to make sure she didn’t get away.
“Coming right up. Name?”
“Tess,” I said, and he wrote it on a paper cup.
“Great name! Like Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” he told me. “I’m Damon.”
“Have you read Tess of the D’Urbervilles?” I asked, surprised.
“I tried. Bored the crap outta me, though.”
I laughed. “Well, at least you tried.”
“Thanks. Your order will be up in a minute at the pickup counter.” He gestured in that direction. “Nice to meet you, Tess.”
“You too,” I said warmly, feeling kind of proud of myself for not getting tongue-tangled in front of a cute boy.
I grabbed my coffee, added some sugar, and then walked over and slid onto the stool next to Lauren’s.
“Good morning!”
“Ugh. Do you have to be so loud?” Lauren grumbled, taking a sip of her coffee.
“I’m not being loud. I’m speaking at a perfectly normal volume.”